Can you name anything that youngsters of today won't know?

Inflation rates in double figures >24% in 1975 for example.
Police men in capes on the beat.
The levels of poverty experienced in the pre 1990's (as a sort of arbitrary date), the slums and failed housing projects in places like Manchester, Bradford and Barnsley from my memories. I'm sure others will have seen it in different parts of the country. Houses without power, bathrooms, inside toilets; cooking on the living room fire etc.
Being caned in school, in front of the class or one to one in the headmasters study(...!?), being caned or rulered on the palm of your hand, having a board rubber bounced off your head and no one blinking an eye.
Mining communities, rough and ready with a film of coal dust over everything.
 
Inflation rates in double figures >24% in 1975 for example.
Police men in capes on the beat.
The levels of poverty experienced in the pre 1990's (as a sort of arbitrary date), the slums and failed housing projects in places like Manchester, Bradford and Barnsley from my memories. I'm sure others will have seen it in different parts of the country. Houses without power, bathrooms, inside toilets; cooking on the living room fire etc.
Being caned in school, in front of the class or one to one in the headmasters study(...!?), being caned or rulered on the palm of your hand, having a board rubber bounced off your head and no one blinking an eye.
Mining communities, rough and ready with a film of coal dust over everything.
Kids today,...they don't know how lucky they are,.....(cough)
 
More difficult? I don't know about. The same as? well all the usuals really; being cared for, paid attention to, fed and educated. Trying to fit in with their peers, wanting to be liked, coping with puberty, trying to find their place in society and so on.
Maybe some of those things are a bit more intense in the society we have helped to create for them. I mean we didn't have to compete for our parents attention against a smart phone. We experienced porn through front covers on the top shelf and damp mags found in a carrier bag in the woods. Our film heroes and pop stars weren't all self obsessed gym bunnies dressed in all the 'in' labels. You could run around and brag you'd shagged someone but now they put the film or the pics up. Different pressures now.
 
I'd agree that it is difficult to truly quantify 'difficulty'. There are obviously different challenges faced by youth of today vs the youth of yesteryear. I.e. I can't imagine having to work down the colliery for 12-15 hour days as my dad did growing up, but on the flip-side it would have been nice to go through uni and have a stable, consistent and well-paid job as my grandfather (mother's side) did growing up not far off the same time.

There are huge drives to be well-educated to earn your keep, but with little result due to saturated job markets. The competition for the jobs and education towards those jobs is monumental and, I'd estimate, larger than it's ever been. On the other hand, the benefit of vocational qualifications and apprenticeships is refreshing to see nowadays, even if it's going full-circle.

Pornography in youth culture is a growing issue in my opinion, as a result of advances in technology. Walking through the park and hearing kids I'd assume to be around 8 years old shouting about how they'd 'fingered x behind the...' or similar is something I never knowingly encountered during my time in primary school. In fact, it's one of the main factors governing my unwillingness to have children (to some disapproval from SWMBO). I wouldn't want my children subjected to that sort of behaviour/language just as I wasn't.

As for suicide rates, it doesn't surprise me at all. I know of three people this year (25+) who have committed suicide - the focus on mental health is going in the right direction but there are clearly flaws as all of them were results of, potentially reducible, long-term depression.
 
You can't quantify difficulty, it's all too personal. When I was in care work I looked after kids who'd been rented out in the back rooms of certain pubs since they were 5, who were lovely little characters and kids with nice parents who spent all their time working for their kids and consequently neglecting them, who were complete swine.
 
You can't quantify difficulty, it's all too personal. When I was in care work I looked after kids who'd been rented out in the back rooms of certain pubs since they were 5, who were lovely little characters and kids with nice parents who spent all their time working for their kids and consequently neglecting them, who were complete swine.
Exactly - [you] could attempt to quantify it, but ultimately [you'd] be wrong. There's quite the sliding scale. What I might perceive difficult, you might perceive not difficult so it's an objective matter. I've noted lack of attention and it's influence on children. Generally speaking makes for some quite ill-disciplined children with swayed morals and views.
 
suicide is just one facet of what I see as a general decline in the mental health of the population. People just don't seam to be as robust.
I think a lot of it is down to isolation, people just don't have the same social and family networks anymore let alone feeling like a valued member of society. Social Media is a poor replacement for human contact and anxiety over work, money and all the rest of it just wears you down. It's easier to be robust if you feel backed up and valued much less so if you don't.
 
Back
Top Bottom